“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.” ~Eleonora Duse Wishing everybody a Christmas filled with unwavering hope, limitless love and bountiful blessings in life.

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” ― Barack Obama MY MINDANAO: PHOTOGRAPHS FOR HOPE opens tomorrow, December 18, at the Sulawesi Function Room, ground floor of Marco Polo Hotel Davao, from 9am until 10 in the evening. This special one day exhibit is for a cause. In our years of experience as photojournalists we have been lucky to be traveling around to document wonderful places, people and culture, and publish them. We have collected many images that depict the beauty of our islands. We truly believe that Mindanao is blessed with people who care for its natural resources and preservation. But Nature has its own course, as well. Last year after Typhoon Sendong, through the help of friends and a workshop (“Shoot for Hope”), we were able to raise money and deliver relief goods to …

“When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings, nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but we know their presence by the love they create in our hearts.” ― Mary Baker Eddy, Poems by Mary Baker Eddy

Christmas after the storm (Dec. 2011) A lone parol (Christmas star) hooked to a bamboo pole stands tall on the bridge overlooking the scenario that Typhoon Sendong brought havoc in Iligan last Dec, 16, 2011. In a backdrop of uprooted trees and the other bridge that fell, an attempt of reviving the Christmas spirit still brings Iliganons hope after the storm.

SHOOT FOR HOPE, DEC. 30, 2011 AT THE MARCO POLO HOTEL Six Davao photographers unite for a day in voluntary efforts to raise funds for Typhoon Sendong victims in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro cities. Learn techniques from the guys who have the experience and skills in different fields of photography, while your support goes to families in need this Holiday Season.

Hope is a renewable option: If you run out of it at the end of the day, you get to start over in the morning. ~ Barbara Kingsolver It was day 2 of my stay in Cagayan de Oro, where I wanted to document images of hope from the Typhoon Sendong natural disaster in both CDO and neighboring Iligan, which occurred on Dec. 16 of 2011.

“Faith is not simply a patience that passively suffers until the storm is past. Rather, it is a spirit that bears things – with resignations, yes, but above all, with blazing, serene hope.” ~ Corazon Aquino Am still here in Cagayan de Oro (CDO) City where the recent typhoon (Sendong) that devastated both areas in CDO and Iligan claimed hundreds of lives and hundreds more missing. It is almost Christmas, yet I’ve decided to hitch with a friend who handles corporate public affairs of their big establishment, and set to deliver thousands of bottled water in both locations.

“Hope is the most exciting thing in life and if you honestly believe that love is out there, it will come. And even if it doesn’t come straight away there is still that chance all through your life that it will.” ~Josh Hartnett

“Sometimes you need to hang on to someone else’s hope, someone else’s peace and sanity while yours is under siege. Do it. Courage, hope, faith, sanity, peace…they all come and go. Borrow them from someone else’s supply until your own comes back in”. ~Linda Mundy

“When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better”. ~Pauline R. Kezer

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